A trio of Dolphins talking points to jumpstart your Monday as we wait for Jeff Fisher to give his final answer:

1. In coaching search, Dolphins’ money doesn’t talk.

Many Dolphins fans are a bit confused this morning as to why all the buzz has Fisher landing in St. Louis to coach the Rams instead of taking the Dolphins’ job.

Didn’t Stephen Ross wine and dine Fisher and throw a boatload of money at him? Aren’t the Dolphins closer to winning than the Rams? Don’t the tropical weather and lack of state income tax make living South Florida more attractive than in southeast Missouri?

The answer to all of those questions is “yes.” And yet, Fisher is still likely to choose the Rams, potentially as early as today.

His interviews with the Rams and Dolphins offer an interesting juxtaposition. The Dolphins pulled out all the stops for Fisher – flying him to and from the team facility in Ross’ helicopter; unleashing Carl Peterson to give Fisher a personal four-hour tour of the facility with promises that Peterson would come work for the Dolphins only if Fisher came aboard; reports that Ross refused to be out-bid for Fisher’s services; Ross hosting Fisher later in the day at The Breakers resort in Palm Beach.

The Rams, meanwhile, didn’t feel the need to throw big piles of money at Fisher. They interviewed him first in Denver at the offices of owner Stan Kroenke, then brought him to visit their facilities and meet quarterback Sam Bradford in St. Louis over the weekend.

And forget a helicopter – Fisher couldn’t even get a direct flight home after his interview with the Rams this weekend. He flew in and out of St. Louis on Southwest airlines, according to multiple reports, and on his way home to Southern California, he took a flight that first stopped in Kansas City, according to ESPN 101 in St. Louis. (To be fair, Fisher made his own travel arrangements and also flew to South Florida on Southwest, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. It seems Fisher, like the rest of us, wants his bags to fly free.)

Add it all up, and it shows that for a coach of Fisher’s caliber, who was set to make $6.5 million as the Titans’ coach in 2011 before he was fired, it takes a lot more than a suitcase of cash, a personal helicopter tour and a grove of palm trees to convince him that Miami is the right job.

2. Dolphins targeting top assistant coaches.

The Dolphins are lining up other interviews in preparation of Fisher officially rejecting their offer, and there seems to be one common theme – they are assistant coaches who had very good seasons.

The latest name to emerge is Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer. Fox’s Jay Glazer reported Sunday that the Dolphins have requested permission to interview Zimmer, the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator from 2000-07 who worked with Jeff Ireland for four years. Now that the Bengals have been eliminated from the playoffs, the Dolphins can interview Zimmer at any time. The Bengals’ defense carried the team to the playoffs this year, finishing ninth in points allowed (20.2 per game) and seventh in total yards.

Joining him on the Dolphins’ list are other coordinators who are considered among the best at what they do. They interviewed Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, whose offense finished first in points scored (35 per game) and third in total yards this year. They are set to interview Atlanta offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey, who despite Sunday’s awful performance against the Giants, led a unit that has finished fifth and seventh in points scored in the past two seasons.

And they’ve already interviewed Bears special teams coach Dave Toub, who was voted the 2007 special teams coach of the year by his peers and this year coached a unit that finished No. 1 in punt return average (15.7 yards), sixth in net punting average (40.4 yards), returned three kicks for touchdowns and didn’t allow a touchdown or blocked kick this year.

Expect the Dolphins to continue to line up the best-performing assistant coaches until they find their man – guys like Saints quarterbacks coach Pete Carmichael, Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski and Texans defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, who each had outstanding seasons.

3. Brandon Marshall misses Jay Cutler. But what about Matt Moore?

Marshall watched the Lions-Saints game on Saturday night like most other football fans, and felt a twinge of nostalgia in watching Matt Stafford connect with Calvin Johnson 12 times for 211 yards and two touchdowns.

Marshall and Cutler hooked up 206 times for 2,590 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2008-09, and Cutler helped Marshall earn his first Pro Bowl berth in 2008, so it’s understandable that Marshall has fond memories of working with Cutler.

But how about showing Matt Moore a little love? Marshall finished the year with 81 catches for 1,214 yards and six touchdowns, with 59 catches, 901 yards and five of those touchdowns coming in Moore’s 12 starts. Marshall had four of his five 100-yard games with Moore throwing him the ball, and averaged 15.0 yards per catch, the highest in his five seasons as a starter. Moore also helped Marshall earn his third career Pro Bowl berth even after Marshall dropped at least five touchdowns in his first five games.

And yet Marshall has been very, very quiet about offering praise to Moore this season. He mentioned Moore in passing a couple times during group interviews, and never once said anything nice about Moore on Twitter like he did with Cutler on Saturday.

Moore may never “believe” in Marshall like Cutler did, but it would be nice to see the Dolphins’ star receiver praise his current teammate and acknowledge the man who helped send him to Hawaii.